Year 1939

WW2 War Diary for Friday, September 22, 1939: Poland Russo-German victory parade at Brest-Litovsk. Colonel-General von Fritsch, former German Army C-in-C and leading anti-Nazi, killed by rifle fire outside Warsaw […]

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, September 21, 1939: Poland Artillery bombardment of key points in Warsaw greatly intensified. Neutrals Romania: Prime Minister Calinescu shot dead by fascists of the Iron

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, September 20, 1939: Air War Western Front: RAF’s first clash with Luftwaffe. Me 109 s attack 3 Battle recce­-bombers over Siegfried Line. One Messerschmitt fighter

WW2 War Diary for Tuesday, September 19, 1939: Poland Bzura Battle ends. 100,000 officers and men from defeated Polish Pomorze and Poznan Armies surrender. Germans surround Lvov, Eastern Poland. Home

WW2 War Diary for Monday, September 18, 1939: Poland Russian Forces now 60 miles (ca. 97 km) inside Poland. Virtually no resistance. Sea War Atlantic: SS Kensington Court shelled and

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, September 17, 1939: Poland RUSSIAN INVASION OF POLAND against negligible defenses. German Army Groups North and South link up at Wlodawa, on river Bug, Eastern

WW2 War Diary for Saturday, September 16, 1939: Poland German ultimatum to Warsaw Garrison and civil population rejected. Polish air force bombers make final sorties. Politics Russia informs Poland that

WW2 War Diary for Friday, September 15, 1939: Poland Germans surround Warsaw and occupy Galician oilfields (southeast Poland). Sea War Atlantic: First British trans-Atlantic convoy sails from Kingston, Jamaica. Politics

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, September 14, 1939: Poland Fall of Gdynia, Poland’s only seaport, and the city of Brest-Litovsk, Eastern Poland. The Citadel of Brest-Litovsk still holds out. Sea

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, September 13, 1939: Poland German infantry cross river Vistula, South of Warsaw. German High Command announces its intention to crush guerrilla operations and sabotage by

WW2 War Diary for Tuesday, September 12, 1939: Poland Germans rush reinforcements (including tank units) from Warsaw front to Bzura battle area (night 12-13). Poles begin fighting withdrawal from Bzura.

WW2 War Diary for Monday, September 11, 1939: Poland Germans cross river San, southeast Poland. Politics Churchill (as ‘A Naval Person’) begins correspondence with Roosevelt. Home Fronts Britain: 1,330,928 people

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, September 10, 1939: Poland Polish general retreat to ‘strong defensive positions’ in south-east Poland ordered. 15 air raids on Warsaw. Germans broadcast false news bulletin,

WW2 War Diary for Saturday, September 9, 1939: Poland BATTLE OF THE BZURA: major Polish counter-attack across river Bzura, West of Warsaw, develops into the largest battle in the campaign

WW2 War Diary for Friday, September 8, 1939: Poland Battle of Warsaw begins: 4th Panzer division reaches outskirts of city, having advanced 225 km in 7 days. Garrison commander, General

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, September 7, 1939: Poland Surrender of Westerplatte, besieged since September 1. Old battleship Schleswig-Holstein begins daily bombardment of Hela, Polish naval base. Western Front French

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, September 6, 1939: Poland: Panzers take Tomaszow and Kielce, south-west of Warsaw and outflanking two Polish armies. Germans announce capture of Cracow. Hitler visits General

WW2 War Diary for Tuesday, September 5, 1939: Poland Germans break through western frontier cordon of Polish armies and cross river Vistula. Polish High Command orders general retreat behind the

WW2 War Diary for Monday, September 4, 1939: Air War Poland: Me 109 s destroy 11 Polish fighters and 3 bombers in battle over Lodz. Germany: 29 RAF Blenheims and

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, September 3, 1939: Poland Panzers cross river Warta, south-west Poland. 1st and 4th Panzer divisions attacked repeatedly by Polish bombers in Radom-­Piotrkow area. Germans capture